Train Of Thought

Coming a year after Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, it's great to hear that Dream Theater hadn't lost their überheavy edge. John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess, and bassist John Myung effectively peeled back the pretentious excesses of Six Degrees, turned them in on themselves, and came up with a leaner, meaner but no less ambitious outing…

Dream Theater, the two-time GRAMMY-nominated and millions-selling legends of progressive music, are pleased to announce the ‘Lost Not Forgotten Archives’. This fresh collaboration between the band and record label InsideOutMusic will see the virtuosic quintet’s long-standing Ytsejams Records catalogue reissued, alongside some brand-new additions to this special collector’s series. The third installment in the series is the first of the classic Ytsejams Records catalogue to be re-released, and comprises the instrumental demos from Dream Theater’s monumental 2003 studio album, ‘Train of Thought’, remastered on CD, 2-LP+CD and Digital formats.

Train of Thought Instrumental Demos 2003 is a collection of instrumental demos by Dream Theater for the album Train of Thought. It was released in 2009 by Mike Portnoy under his YtseJam Records label.

Coming a year after Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, it's great to hear that Dream Theater hadn't lost their überheavy edge. John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess, and bassist John Myung effectively peeled back the pretentious excesses of Six Degrees, turned them in on themselves, and came up with a leaner, meaner but no less ambitious outing. The centerpiece track, despite the fact that it is second on the disc, is "This Dying Soul: IV. Reflections of Reality (Revisited)." A tome about alcoholism and recovery, it's strident riff opens out onto vast sonic panoramas where pianos and rhythm section offer Petrucci the space he needs to take his guitar playing into overdrive. Also, lyrically this is an evolutionary track on the set; it opens doors for the rest of the narratives here…

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection covers Chanté Moore's first three albums for Silas/MCA, all of which were released during the '90s: Precious (1992), A Love Supreme (1994), and This Moment Is Mine (1999). With the exception of the minor hit "I See You in a Different Light," it contains all of the singer's charting R&B singles from the era, including the Top 20 hits "Love's Taken Over," "It's Alright," and "Chante's Got a Man." This is a succinct, smartly selected overview of Moore's early and most successful work – perfect for those who can't snap up the albums.

You might have thought that, since the 1998 merger of MCA and PolyGram, creating Universal Music, brought the hits Cher scored in the 1970s and '80s for Kapp, MCA, Casablanca, and Geffen under one roof, the next time they got around to doing a best-of they would combine all those catalogs. No such luck. In the wake of Cher's 1999 comeback with "Believe," Geffen issued its own comp, If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits. So, when MCA came to compile The Best of Cher as part of the midline-priced 20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection series, they simply took the 1974 MCA Greatest Hits album, stripped off two B-sides, and added the 1979 Casablanca disco hit "Take Me Home" and the 1971 Sonny & Cher hit "All I Ever Need Is You."

Ben Curtis' desertion of Secret Machines and the breakup of On!Air!Library! was justified by this group's first single, a sky-gliding confection that modernized the sighing, swirling, private dancefloor sides of Medicine, Seefeel, and My Bloody Valentine. Included as the finale on Alpinisms, the debut album from Curtis and O!A!L!'s singing Deheza twins, "My Cabal" has the feel of a bonus track; the later recordings that precede it, despite remaining squarely within the domain of late-'80s/early-'90s dream pop in terms of inspiration, are relatively individualist, going well beyond the lucid psychedelia and discreet flickers of Afro-beat and contemporary pop. What pushes these songs past mere worship involves cunning collisions of robust rhythm, caressing noise, and heavenly melody, with each element equally crucial. Good shoegaze/dream pop bands mastered one of them; the most exceptional of the heap, like this group, had all three down. The most striking example here is "Wired for Light," seemingly spawned by Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Peek-A-Boo" and M/A/R/R/S' "Anitina," full of clacking percussion that rattles the ribs, Middle Eastern accents, gale-force atmospherics, and layered vocals that could be casting a spell.

Esoteric Recordings announce a new release on their recently launched Cocteau Discs imprint, a limited edition reissue of Bill Nelson’s classic 4 disc ambient boxed set "Trial By Intimacy (The Book of Splendours)”. The set was originally released on Bill’s Cocteau Records label in October 1984 and comprised recordings made by Bill at his Echo Observatory home studio. Comprising some eighty pieces of music, the set was a fine example of Bill Nelson’s grasp of Ambient music and has subsequently been hailed as a ground-breaking work. Long deleted, the set is made available once more with this newly re-mastered Cocteau Discs edition. The new release fully restores the original elements of the "Trial By Intimacy” box and is an exact facsimile, reproducing a 32 page book and eight art postcards that featured in the original set.

Bill Nelson - Trial By Intimacy (The Book Of Splendours) (2012) {4CD Box Set Esoteric Recordings COCD 4007 rec 1984}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 969 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 421 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 1.02 Gb | 5% repair rar
© 1984, 2012 Esoteric Recordings / Bill Nelson / Cocteau Discs / Cherry Red | COCD 4007
Rock / Alternative / Art Rock / Ambient

Esoteric Recordings announce a new release on their recently launched Cocteau Discs imprint, a limited edition reissue of BILL NELSON’s classic 4 disc ambient boxed set "TRIAL BY INTIMACY (The Book of Splendours)”. The set was originally released on Bill’s Cocteau Records label in October 1984 and comprised recordings made by Bill at his Echo Observatory home studio. Comprising some eighty pieces of music, the set was a fine example of Bill Nelson’s grasp of Ambient music and has subsequently been hailed as a ground-breaking work. Long deleted, the set is made available once more with this newly re-mastered Cocteau Discs edition. The new release fully restores the original elements of the "TRIAL BY INTIMACY” box and is an exact facsimile, reproducing a 32 page book and eight art postcards that featured in the original set.